Earlier this week, The Gazette reported that Vito Rizzuto, 66, was spotted strolling through Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, apparently on his way to Punta Cana, a popular tourist destination in the sunny Dominican Republic.

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MONTREAL - Forget the challenges associated with getting a reputed Mafia boss to spill the beans on the stand at the Charbonneau Commission — just getting Vito Rizzuto into that chair might prove tricky.

Earlier this week, The Gazette reported that Rizzuto, 66, was spotted strolling through Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, apparently on his way to Punta Cana, a popular tourist destination in the sunny Dominican Republic.

While he may have simply been fleeing winter’s icy grip, there is also the possibility that Rizzuto, recently released from a U.S. prison, is trying to avoid testifying before the high-profile public inquiry, which resumes hearings on Monday morning.

The federal Department of Justice confirmed Thursday that Canada has no extradition treaty with the Dominican Republic, so if that is where Rizzuto is currently vacationing, authorities may not be able to force him back home to appear before Justice France Charbonneau.

Rumours have been swirling for weeks that the commission’s legal team has subpoenaed Rizzuto, once believed to be Canada’s most powerful Mafia don. The witness list has been a closely-guarded secret, however, and until Friday, officials had refused to confirm if Rizzuto is on it.

On Friday, commission spokesperson Richard Bourdon confirmed that Rizzuto has indeed been subpoenaed to appear, and the commission also released the names of the three witnesses expected to testify on Monday. Rizzuto is not among them and Bourdon said there is still no date set for Rizzuto’s testimony.

Rizzuto would hardly be the first person with mob ties who has tried to worm his way out of testifying at a public inquiry.

Nearly four decades ago, two high-ranking members of the Cotroni-Violi family were called as witnesses before the last Quebec inquiry into organized crime and corruption — known as the Cliche Commission. Paolo Violi was particularly uncooperative, and was sentenced to one year in prison for contempt of court.

More recently, one of Rizzuto’s associates, Raynald Desjardins, fought a subpoena sent to him from the Charbonneau Commission last fall. His attempts to have it retracted based on the fact that he is currently facing a murder charge were unsuccessful. Desjardins is expected to take the stand sometime in the next several weeks.

But some say it’s unlikely Rizzuto would stay abroad to evade the commission.

“My sources say he’s just gone down there for a week,” said André Cédilot, co-author of the book Mafia Inc.: The Long Bloody Reign of Canada’s Sicilian clan. “I guess the guy wants a bit of fresh air after being in prison all those years.”

Rizzuto was arrested in 2004 for his role in the 1981 murders of three mafia leaders in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was extradited to the U.S. and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He served his sentence and was returned to Canada on Oct. 5.

Rizzuto was known to holiday regularly in the Dominican Republic before his incarceration. In fact, several witnesses at the Charbonneau Inquiry have testified that Rizzuto offered them all-expenses paid trips to that country in exchange for their help in manipulating the costs of construction contracts with the city.

Former city engineers Gilles Surprenant and Luc Leclerc, for example, spent a week holidaying in the Dominican in 1997, playing golf and socializing with Rizzuto, who covered their expenses.

But Cédilot insists Rizzuto would not risk getting charged with contempt for evading a subpoena to appear before the commission.

“He is quite capable of testifying, as he has done two or three times before in different trials,” Cédilot said. “He is not a fool. His life is here in Montreal; his family is here, his business is here.”

Bloc Québécois MP Maria Mourani, who has written two books on street gangs and organized crime, said Rizzuto is likely either dealing with business interests in the Dominican, or taking a vacation, not evading Charbonneau.

“If he testifies, he is not obliged to say what he knows ... I have no information to say Vito Rizzuto would go to the Dominican Republic to evade Charbonneau. If he does that, it would mean he is retiring, that he is no longer willing to fight for his territory in Montreal, and I have seen no indication that he is ready to retire,” Mourani said.

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